The Light Side of Lazy

What does it mean to be lazy?

A good question.

Of course, if you ask that to nearly anyone, they’ll tell you it means being unmotivated and energetic; it means lacking any sort of ambition or will to do anything, yet alone something productive; it means wasting time….or something to that effect.

There’s such a bad social stigma about being lazy, and people naturally are critical about any form of laziness. You can’t blame them, though. I mean, it’s just sort of the culture of this “work ‘til you die' ' structure we’re all raised in.

Just like the world would have you believe that wolves are these cruel feral animals with pure evil intent, so too would the world have you believe that laziness is the absolute worst personality trait one could ever develop.

Wolves are actually more like dogs that just so happen to live out in the wild. There was a time where humans and wolves lived together; they were as much as “man’s best friend” as your little fluffy pomeranian. But because of all of these stories in fairytales of books and movies, where the wolf is typically the villain or bad guy, like the one that huffed and puffed and blew the house down in the THree Little Pigs, the general public’s view of wolves is that they are quite vindictive and flat out mean. Like, if you hear a pack of wolves howling it means they’re out to hunt their prey, which is you as a lonely hiking bystander.  

Fairytales will literally have you believe that wolves crave human flesh. And while wolves are carnivores, that just means they want to eat meat, not necessarily human meat, either. In fact, because of our ancestors and their bond with wolves, wolves typically respect humans, and aren’t very likely to eat them, contrary to popular belief. Unless of course he was a very, very hungry wolf.

But honestly, you look at something like a German Shepard and tell me that he wouldn’t attack/eat you if *he* was hungry enough. C’mon man.

Besides, there are literal Wolf Sanctuaries, where people, yes, people, live with and take care of wolves. Some would even call them “friends” Imagine that! And you thought every wolf was a “Big Bad” one.

​​The whole point I’m trying to make here with this little wolf anecdote is that “bad guys” aren’t always really that bad. That is to say, things that we’re told are bad 

It’s true wolves have sharp fangs, but that doesn’t necessarily make them inherently evil. Likewise, it’s true that being “lazy” involves acting rather passive, but that doesn’t necessarily means it's unproductive or wasteful of them to do so.

The definition of the word “lazy” goes much deeper than what’s on the surface. Just like how wolves are actually friendly creatures, procrastin8rs are actually friendly creatures too.

 That’s what I want to talk about today.

I want to introduce to you, or perhaps recap for you if you’ve been following my blog and are familiar with my content, what *exactly* It means to be lazy, because being lazy is so much more than sittin’ around being a lethargic piece of shit, waste of space, as the rest of society would have you believe.
​​

Just like all things in life, especially when it comes to personal attributes, there’s a bit of a light side and dark side. I mean you take being hard-working, for example. Certainly there’s the light side of getting things done with punctuality, completing goals,  and being active.

But you never really heard the dark side of that.  You never hear about the dark side of being such a hardworking go-getter.

For example, spending all your time at work means you're always “too busy” to find time to spend quality time with family or friends, it means you’re constantly moving and never stop to smell the roses, so to speak. 

Look, you always hear about the light side of being hard-working and never really hear about the dark side of it, and in the same vain, you always hear about the “dark side” of laziness and never really hear the light side of it and that’s what we’re getting into today. Laziness is like the force and you can choose what to do with its power.

Anyway, without further ado, let’s dive…right into it!



​

To be lazy is to be relaxed. 

A lazy person is laid back and calm. Nothing bothers him. He doesn’t give a fuck. He’s just his own dude abiding. 

Stress and worry doesn’t easily startle him or shake him up. 

If anything unexpected or emotional happens, well then he’s too LAZY to get all upset and make a big deal about it. He recognizes his emotion, without letting them spiral out of control. He reflects instead reacts. 

If someone insults or criticizes him, well shit man, again, he’s too LAZY to make a huge fuss over it, get into an argument, and/or stir up some drama.

You see, despite all the bad connotations being lazy has, you can’t deny that typically a lazy person isn’t very much of an argumentative prick or drama queen. They kind of just go with the flow with “whatever man”.

Now going with the flow doesn’t necessarily mean they like what happened or are “cool wit it” or whatever, it just means that they don’t let it bother them, they don’t let it get to them.

Remaining in control, not letting shit get under your skin too easily, that’s the key part of what were talking about when we talk about being relaxed.

And like I said, if you’re lazy, I mean TRULY lazy, then you are naturally quite relaxed about things.

No matter how hectic, no matter how crazy, you remain level-headed and easy going. That’s what you want to ideally aim for anyway, assuming you want to begin to follow the “light side” of laziness.

To be lazy is to be unfazed.

Unfazed. What a word. It doesn’t mean you don’t care. It doesn’t mean you’re unconcerned. It just means you aren’t alarmed or aggravated easily. You’re stoic, clam….unfazed.

This sort of what we were talking about with staying “relaxed”. I mean, if you’re relaxed, you’re unfazed and vice versa.

Again, let’s think about a lazy person. The building could be on literal fire with people screaming and he’d be thinking about how he doesn’t feel like getting off the couch or chair he’s sitting at, instead of running around in a panic-induced frenzy.

Now I suppose the dark side of that is that being lazy can mean you put yourself (and perhaps others) in danger. But the light side is that you can use this “unfazed” mode to prevent yourself from feeling anxious, worried, or stressed.

It’s not so much about not caring about *anything*, but caring only about things that are *actually* important.

Now I know what you’re thinking. In the case of an emergency, you can’t just sit there. You gotta fucking move! Off your ass!

You may be thinking remaining unfazed during a serious emergency isn’t something honorable.

And well I’d reckon that sitting around doing nothing during a real emergency is not the best course of action (or inaction I suppose).

But unfazed isn’t about just not caring, not doing anything. It’s not getting riled up or emotionally perturbed.

In fact, remaining unfazed *during* an emergency is probably one of the best things you can do. Think about it, man. What’s gonna solve an emergency?

Running around like a nut shouting gibberish of words because you lost your ability to coherently speak, or calmly approaching the situation and making logical decisions about the right steps to take?

You see, being unfazed, and very well being LAZY, is about staying calm in the heart of the storm. It’s about being rational during an emergency or legitimate crisis.

Besides, if you can be unfazed during real emergencies, then you can be unfazed  during any situation life throws at you and that’s what allows you to solve issues using a rational approach, rather than a firestormed emotional one.

​

To be lazy is to be free.

A person who is lazy does what he wants when he wants. It’s that simple.

While he has the bad rep of not going to class, not showing up for work, not getting chores done. I mean, these are a list of things he DOESN’T do.

But what about what he does do?

And maybe that answer is actually nothing.

In which case, good for him! Good for him for doing nothing. Look at it this way, he’s doing what he WANTS.

How often do you do that? How often are you not running from one obligation to the next? How often are you not going through your to-do list and “have-tos”?

How often…do you do what you want?

Man, I’m telling you, being able to throw all that shit away and actually do what you want, that takes some balls. That takes some audacity.

We all point and laugh at the bum, who sits at home all day. And sure, on the surface, maybe the Cheetos stained t-shirt and cum-stained cushions, littered with tissues ain’t the best look.

But hey, I mean, guy does what he wants and doesn’t question what other people think about it. Dude is living the dream. I mean….his dream anyway.

What’s your dream? Something you want right?

All this talk about how being lazy means you don’t go for your dreams. But fuck man, lazy people are living their dreams. Every. Single. Day.

Why? Because they have FREEDOM.  They’ve freed themselves from the duties, obligations, or otherwise expected protocols and decided to quote on quote “was te their time” doing what they actually want.

And let me tell you about this “waste of time”, by the way. I said it before and I’ll say it again, but Time you enjoy wasting is NOT wasted time!

That’s right. So another aspect of the light side of lazy is to be able to live a life of desire rather than a life of obligation.  Free yourself man, embrace your laziness.


​

To be lazy is to be efficient.

There’s a quote that’s often credited to Bill Gates, but originally came from  Frank B. Gilbreth Sr. and it goes:

“I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.

See a lazy person doesn’t want to bother with overly complicated processes. You bet your cookie that if there’s an easier way

Heck, another thing I know I’ve said before, but it really drives home what I’m trying to say, but every invention, ever, since the wheel was invented by a lazy person.

Laziness is the fuel to innovation. The whole reason we drive cars instead of walk. The whole reason we have apps on our phone that can deliver ANYTHING in the fucking world = to our door

Laziness is what allowed society to make things convenient, to make things easily accessible. I’m telling you straight, man. If it wasn’t for laziness, we’d still be hunting and gathering and living in caves.

We evolved, as a species *because of* our laziness. We built the entire modern civilization, complete with cool tech *because of* laziness.

Yet, here we are, in this modern lazy-built society, and the audacity, the absolute nerve to say that laziness is terrible, when laziness…is exactly what got us here.

So say it loud. Say it proud, my fellow procrasitn8r: I’m LAZY!



Take it easy and may the force be with you




​-N8